mrtcat

Good to see lots of others like John's preamps too. Tempted to put one in my Jazz now as it seems it may reduce the scoop effect of having both pups on full.

Well last night I used a clone stingray I picked up here on this very forum at a pub gig. I've had the bass a week or two and my first move was to whip out the passive circuitry, route out a slot for a 9v battery box and then drop in a John East three knob, three band preamp. The bass plays really well after a swift setup so I thought it would be great to have a low value stingray that I can take to pubs and if I ever go for the real deal I can take the east pre out and use it in that. I picked the preamp up from John's workshop myself so had a good chat with him. What a smashing chap he is. Clearly very passionate about quality and making really usable products. It was a doddle to fit it with the only slight tricky bit being the need to route out a chamber for the battery box. Holy crap it sounds killer. So damn punchy and total control over the sounds. So versatile it's unreal. I'm really impressed as were the band last night. Defo a keeper and that preamp is fantastic. One happy bass player here.

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1412961677' post='2573726'] Yes but you know what I mean. Round here, you'd get pretty short change from the audience unless you did something pretty special with it. I can think of a few places where some would walk out... [/quote] We've only ever played it twice. On both occasions it was a request from some drunken punter but on both occasions everyone has gone absolutely nuts for it. Last time was at the Xmas staff bash for a massive retail outlet company and we had the chief executive playing air guitar on the bar.

I try really hard not to buy anything made in China. I'm sure they can make things well but I have way too many issues with China (human rights issues, animal welfare etc etc etc) to want to support their economy.

Just received a Stingray clone from Dunc in the post. A most excellent buying experience all round. Great comms, swift dispatch and really well packaged. Would buy from him anytime. Thanks Dunc!

Hi MikeyD, I PM'd you a week or so back bit not sure you picked it up. If you're still teaching and have space for one more then I'm looking for a local teacher. Cheers Tom

Oh god, bang goes next yrs holiday. New cab it is then.

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1412110602' post='2565839'] Plug the existing 10 mm holes first (with dowelling..?); you'll get a better cut, I'd suggest. [/quote] This. It makes life a lot easier.

I made cardboard jackets for mine using old boxes and a mountain of duck tape. Needless to say they look crap but they do the job. They will however need replacing every three months lol and don't like the rain.

I like the sound from Hartke stuff. The Kilo I used to have sounded ace. It's just a pity the thing spent more time on the repair bench than on top of my cab. It was a piece of junk in terms of reliability and although I initially had decent service from Hartke this quickly descended into a total farce and ended up with their engineer damaging the front so badly I decided to cut my losses and sell it off at a silly low price. Such a shame as it sounded great.

I know you say you don't have lots of money but I bought a brand new Sony 5.1 av receiver from richer sounds for £89 last yr. If you go into a branch and speak to them they often have a managers special at silly prices. They will often sell you a unit that has been loaned to another customer whilst their machine was being repaired. My mate picked one of those up for £70 and it still had full warranty.

Won't play without them. I have some nice custom molds from acs but my amp bag, guitar cases and car have multiple pairs of cheap disposable ones stashed in in case I forget or misplace my good ones.

Two 1x12s is a great choice. I love mine.

Having built lots and lots of BFM projects I can't stress enough that the plans are great but YOU MUST FOLLOW THEM TO THE LETTER. Read them through several times and if you don't think you have / can afford the right tools / wood then think carefully about whether you should proceed. DIY cabs may be less expensive than much branded gear but when you price all the components they still add up to a pretty penny. Why risk wasting money by "freestyling" or by letting someone at a timber yard rush the cuts when a bit of self discipline and a few carefully selected tools will see you through multiple builds. For me a circular saw would be minimum requirement and a router, although not essential will save lots of time and give a uniform finish.

Love gigging but having recently become a dad I miss my wife and baby girl when I have a gig that requires me to leave home before baby bed time. That said I still really enjoy the bigger gigs and look forward to hanging out with my bandmates when we play.

My guilty pleasure. I love it when we do this one. All about the feeling in the opening bass riff and keeping the energy/drive going. Never really thought of it as a difficult song but our drummer is a bona fide rock pro.

Firstly I'm sorry to hear about your family issues. Having been through similar I know it's a tough time. The band sound a bit nuts. Yes it's very frustrating when someone in your band has limited availability but if their reasons are genuine then you just have to suck it up. Going out without bass is just stupid. A dep whilst you had a sustained period of unavailability would have been sensible. That said, if your ongoing availability is going to be limited then you should leave. They clearly want to gig lots and it sounds like you have other commitments that will continue to cause problems. I don't know which projects you were involved with 1st but we recently sacked a drummer that joined another band and it started to impact on how often we could play. best of luck